“We will consider negotiation only when we have brought the government to their knees,” the spokesman, Abu Qaqa, said in the group’s first major interview with a western newspaper. “Once we see that things are being done according to the dictates of Allah, and our members are released [from prison], we will only put aside our arms â€“ but we will not lay them down. You don’t put down your arms in Islam, you only put them aside.”

Somalia’s al-Shabab militants ban Red Cross aid work

Al-Shabab had already halted the work of several aid agencies working in the famine-hit region, including some from the UN. It accused them of exaggerating the scale of the problems for political reasons, and trying to convert Muslims to Christianity. (BBC)

The president’s decision to run for a third term has been met by anger in one of Africa’s most mature democracies.
It was one of the most peaceful nations on Africa’s west coast. But is that beginning to change?

Ninety-four percent of the country’s population is estimated to be Muslim……

Kenya police arrest imam over weapons cache

Kenyan police say they have arrested an imam after they found a cache of weapons in his house.

The chief of police for the coastal region says the suspect is a sympathizer of Somalia’s al-Shabab militia. Deputy Commissioner Aggrey Adoli says the haul included a pistol, a rifle, detonators and hand grenades.Â Aboud Rogo was named in a U.N. report last year as having links to al-Shabab, and is on bail for possession of weapons.